Skills Library

Influencing Others 

What this looks like:

  • Builds credibility and is the go-to person that others look to for guidance and expert advice

  • Motivates colleagues to support their initiatives and adopt their ideas without necessarily telling them what to do

  • Confidently communicates their vision and goals while considering the needs of others

  • Listens, asks questions and shows interest in others

On-the-job practice

  • Show interest and gain respect. If you don’t have a good rapport with others, what makes you think they would want to listen to you?

    • Try this: Understand the other person’s needs and values so you can tailor your message to their “language.” Do they have a need to learn more? If so, offer help and advice. Do they value effectiveness and efficiency? If so, make sure your conversations with them are short and to the point. If you don’t know their needs or values, you can ask them, “What do you value at work?” Check out this Values Wheel for ideas.  

    • Try this: Focus on establishing trust and rapport with the people you want to influence. Check on the Feed Library Skills Library on Relationship Building, Coaching and Developing Others, and Empowering Others.

    • Try this: Show that you care by noticing the small details. If you run into someone who achieved a work-related or personal milestone, acknowledges it. For example:

      • If someone gave an excellent presentation at the company all-hands, say something along the lines of, “Nice work on the presentation yesterday! I liked the slide where you spoke about X because of Y.” 

      • If something is worth celebrating, relay a congratulatory message, such as “Congrats on the well-deserved promotion!” 

      • Recognize personal celebrations too, such as “I heard about you relocating to Texas. That’s exciting! What are you most looking forward to?”

  • Build your credibility. Building your credibility doesn’t necessarily mean being an expert in your field. You can build influencing power by being a reliable and consistent individual who gets things done.

    • Try this: Take a quick minute to self-evaluate how dependable you are. i.e., do you respond to emails, are you on time for meetings, do you meet project deadlines, do you follow up with people? When you keep your word and walk the talk, you’ll gain followership. No one wants to work with or for someone unreliable.

    • Try this: Take a quick minute to self-evaluate if you are achieving results that people can see. It’s hard to gain influence if people don’t know who you are and the great work. If your work is not highly visible, you can subtly start sharing it with your peers at work and say, “Hey, I’m working on X and would love it if you can give me feedback on your thoughts.” If you don’t have any noteworthy achievements, you can ask your boss for special projects to gain more exposure or go to Feed Learning’s Results-Orientation Skill Library for more tips.

    • Try this: Find a highly visible and well-liked leader who can sponsor your development and promote the incredible work you do.

    • Try this: Continuously improve your knowledge and skills on your expertise but also in general professional development. Consider attending industry conferences, workshops, online classes, or certification programs. You can also create a weekly calendar to dedicate 30 minutes to reading articles, watching videos, or listening to podcasts to gain more knowledge on your specific area of expertise. Check out our “Resources for more inspiration” below! 

  • Find allies for buy-in. Strengthen relationships with coworkers who can become your allies at work. These individuals can help support your ideas and encourage buy-in from others. This US News article provides examples of the “most important allies to make at work.”

    • Try this: Conduct a stakeholder analysis to win support from others. This tool will help you identify the critical people in your network, who has power and authority, and who has high or low interest in the work you do. Once you know this information, you’ll better understand who you need to keep satisfied and work harder at building the relationship. 

    • Try this: Recognize that you need to also give influence to get influence (it’s a two-way street)! If someone has a great idea during a meeting and you want to expand upon it, give credit to your colleague’s idea by saying something along the lines of, “I liked Hannah’s point on X. I think it is great because of Y.”

More resources for inspiration

ARTICLES

BOOKS

PODCASTS

VIDEOS

 

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